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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28947051">I Love You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Reader/pseuds/Eccentric_Reader'>Eccentric_Reader</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Will Follow You (To The End) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bella's a bit of a dumbass, F/F, Feels, Nightmares, Sad Hermione Granger, Supportive Bellatrix, but what else is new, hints at smut, sad but also happy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:47:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,125</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28947051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Reader/pseuds/Eccentric_Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione isn't taking care of herself. Bellatrix intervenes.</p><p>Can be read apart from the rest of the series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Will Follow You (To The End) [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981972</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Love You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I think someone requested this a solid three months ago, and so I present the newest installment of the I Will Follow You series.</p><p>just a couple of months late</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hermione, are you alright?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione was clearly not alright. Ever since the battle, she’d been running around like a madwoman, helping with injuries and trying to help the professors get a body count. She wasn’t sleeping, and Bellatrix had only seen her eat a couple of bites of food and the occasional sip of water.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The battle had been 3 days ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, obviously, her girlfriend was not alright. But Bellatrix wanted to give her a chance to talk about it before confronting her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” she snapped. The tone was harsh enough that Bellatrix could barely suppress a flinch, but Hermione noticed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione, unfortunately, </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> noticed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her shoulders sagged, and she rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “I’m sorry, I just- I’m fine, Bella. Really, I am.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix scowled. “No you’re not. Come on, Hermione, you haven’t slept since the battle. What’s going on?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m just stressed. It’s fine, I can go without sleep.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s been </span>
  <em>
    <span>3 days</span>
  </em>
  <span>! You need-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix stopped short, noticing that Hermione had become tenser and tenser the louder her voice rose. “This is about him, isn’t it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione flinched. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gotcha</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes narrowed, and she slipped her arm around Hermione’s waist. “Come on. We’re going back to my quarters and you’re gonna get some sleep, and then we’ll talk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ignoring Hermione’s weak protests, she led her up the stairs and into the rooms where Bellatrix and her sisters had been staying. She managed to wrangle her girlfriend into bed and, despite Hermione’s claims that she was not tired, she was out within minutes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix sighed, and ran her fingers softly through the brown hair splayed out on the pillow. Hermione looked so much more peaceful when she was sleeping- the lines on her face seemed to disappear entirely, and the tension left her body. Bellatrix scooped her up into her arms, careful not to wake her up, and, burying her face in her shoulder, she went to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was jolted awake by a sudden movement under her, and immediately rolled to the side when she heard a whimper by her ear. Hermione had her fists clenched in the sheets and was twisting around on the bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hermione? Hermione, wake up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix’s shaking seemed to do nothing to fix the situation until Hermione shot upright with a gasp. She curled in on herself, visibly shaking, and within seconds Bellatrix could hear great, heaving sobs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Moving carefully to not shift the mattress too much, she sat up and tucked her feet under her legs, thinking about what she should do next. She knew all too intimately what nightmares were like- in fact, she suspected that she knew </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> what Hermione’s nightmare had been like, having had… similar experiences in the past.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing, she leaned forward and snaked her arms around Hermione’s waist, letting her fall back onto her chest. “It’s alright.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s not. I can’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>sleep</span>
  </em>
  <span> without-” she broke off with a sob. Bellatrix buried her face in her hair, rocking her back and forth in an attempt at comfort.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a while, the sobbing stopped, turning into muffled sniffles before Hermione sat up again. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna go back downstairs, I told McGonagall I’d-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione turned around to gape at her. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No. You’re going to stay here, we’re going to get some food into you, and you’re going to take a break. You’ve been working for 3 days straight, even you need to rest sometimes, you know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be ridiculous. I have to get to work.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span> not the one being ridiculous. I know everything’s fucked up right now, but that doesn’t mean you can neglect your health!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can do whatever I want! It doesn’t concern you, anyway!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It does concern me, you’re my girlfriend and I love you and I’m not going to let you waste away-” Bellatrix stopped. Hermione was staring at her with widened eyes. “What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You- you love me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Bellatrix immediately regretted every life decision she’d ever made that led her up to this moment. She wanted to curl up and die in a hole and never come out. Her brain was running wild, running through all of the ways that Hermione was going to tell her that she didn’t love her back and-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you too, Bella.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her thoughts screeched to a halt, and she sat there in shock, mouth opening and closing, unable to form words or even a coherent thought.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione laughed, and Bellatrix realized it was the first time she’d heard her laugh since nearly a year ago. She thought it might be the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard in her life, and-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Wait.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You love me too?” Bellatrix squeaked- and though, if you asked her later, she’d deny it, she made a weak whimpering sound in the back of her throat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione beamed at her and cupped her cheek in her hand. “Yes.” She leaned in for a quick kiss, though, to Bellatrix’s dismay, she broke it off just as quickly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s been a hard year.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ridiculous beam fell off of Bellatrix’s face, softening into a small, sad smile. “Yeah, it has. For everyone. Especially you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione’s face fell completely serious. “And you. You know I ran into Rodolphus at Diagon Alley when I was breaking into Gringotts? He mentioned something about weekly meetings.” She raised an eyebrow. “Any idea what that was about?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix froze. She hadn’t meant for Hermione to find out about that. Shit. “Don’t change the subject. We were talking about you and your insistence on running yourself ragged.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione rolled her eyes and flopped down on the bed before turning her head up to face her. “You’ll talk about it eventually, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bellatrix laid down next to her. “Yeah, eventually. In the meantime, promise me you’ll take care of yourself? And talk to me if you ever need to?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione nodded and leaned in towards her, nestling her face in the crook of Bellatrix’s neck. “Yeah.” She placed a kiss on her jaw. “But right now….”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Heat immediately flowed to Bellatrix’s face, and her brain ceased to function when she felt kisses being peppered on her neck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What- no! No, wait a second, we were going to go get food for you, stop distracting me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She thought she might’ve died when Hermione made a low growling sound, but unfortunately, she was a woman with a mission, and so she disentangled herself and marched determinedly out of the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before she left, however, she peeked back in. “We’ll continue that later, though, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Scowling at the laughter that came her way, she crossed over to the main room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Time to figure out how to use the kitchen.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bella never figures out the kitchen. A couple of things burn. But we'll forgive her :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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